After going the distance against Chris Jericho at Revolution and securing his first-ever win on an AEW Pay-Per-View, Ricky Starks was riding high. Moseying on back to the media scrum for a little back-and-forth action with the assembled reporters, Starks took a seat next to Tony Khan and did his darn thing, with his suave nature serving as a sharp contrast to the abrasive energy of MJF.
Asked how he plans to keep his momentum going after earning one of the biggest wins of his AEW career, Starks was taken aback for a moment, noting that he lost some of his aura earlier in the year before putting the entire roster, and three wrestlers in particular, on notice.
“Huh, I don’t know, that’s a great question,” Starks said. “Obviously, I am put in situations where I have to create this energy. You know what I’m saying? You can’t create energy, obviously but you have to create energy. I think for me now is, admittedly, I lost myself for the first few months of this year, I lost who Ricky was, I’m sure you guys probably saw a little bit of that at times. But I found him again, I found my confidence, I regained my confidence I had, so now it’s a matter of ‘okay, what’s next for me?’ I’m up here (points up), I know you don’t want to see me do this again (points down), no one wants to see me do that again, because then I have to do this (points up) again.”
“Honestly, for me, at this point, it’s contending for a championship. And I know someone’s gonna ask me, it can be the AEW Championship, it could be the TNT Championship, it could be the Atlantic, or it could be all three; I could be that person. I think I’ve already proven I’m already a main eventer, I’ve already proven that I’m the guy, why not go for some type of gold now, you know? So for me, personally, I’m open to those, Chris was a great cap in my feather, but it doesn’t stop there. I honestly think, man, I honestly think I’m ready to do the godd*mn thing.”
Does Starks have what it takes to become a champion in AEW once more, this time with one of the company's officially recognized belts? Or is he more of a set-up guy who wrestled MJF, Wardlow, or even OC in the middle of their run as a sort of mini-boss midway through a long Pay-Per-View layover? Either way, Starks is correct in surmising that these next few months are vital to his career's trajectory, as it would be a shame to see him dip and then have to build back up to this point once more.
Ricky Starks has nothing but nice things to say about Chris Jericho.
Elsewhere in his media session, Starks was asked what it was like to get in the ring with Jericho over the past few months and how that experience could help his career moving forward. Unsurprisingly, Starks had nothing but nice things to say about Jericho, who has really been getting his flowers lately for being a great shepherd of young talent.
“There are a few things that I’ve learned about Chris. He’s a very masterful type of conductor, in a way. I guess for me, learning from Chris was all of the right things to do at the right moment,” Starks said via Fightful. “I’m a big believer, and I’ve talked about this heavy in interviews about the people that I want to wrestle here. I’ve mentioned Kenny, I’ve mentioned Punk, I mentioned all of these people with the experience because iron sharpens iron. To wrestle Chris Jericho, that is iron sharpening iron. I think, coming out of this, I am a better performer, I’m a better entertainer, after all of this. Not to say that I wasn’t before, but to add just a little bit of some extra flair to a well-seasoned meat that is me, I think that worked out as perfectly as it could. Chris is a legend in this business. I don’t think y’all realize how old Chris is. I’m not saying that in a negative way, but I’m saying it to say he’s been doing this for a very long time. To have him on the roster is a very vital thing for people such as myself, who are hungry, who don’t want to sit in catering and have to just wait for the next thing. That is what I have always wanted since I’ve been here. I had it with Sting, didn’t get it for a bit, now I got Chris. There’s more to it from that. So Chris is a very, very special type of talent. I will give him that.”
While some fans wondered why Starks was so interested in wrestling a second time when he already secured a win, it's clear the former “Stroke Daddy” is better off today than he was a month ago, and Jericho has to earn at least a little credit for that.
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